Artificially intelligent ejection fraction determination

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and computer program product for artificially intelligent ejection fraction determination. In a method for artificially intelligent ejection fraction determination, a neural network is loaded into memory of a computer, that has been trained with different sets of cardiac imaging data acquired during imaging of a ventricle for different hearts and a known ejection fraction for each of the sets. Then, a contemporaneous set of imaging data is acquired of a ventricle of a heart and the contemporaneous set of imaging data is provided to the neural network. Finally, an ejection fraction determination output by the neural network is displayed in a display of the computer without tracing a ventricle boundary of the heart.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the Invention[0001]The present invention relates to the systolic function of the heart and more particularly ejection fraction measurement.Description of the Related Art[0002]The ejection fraction is a measurement of the systolic function of the heart that refers to the percentage of blood leaving the heart at each contraction. Specifically, during each pumping cycle of the heart, the heart both contracts and also relaxes. When the heart contracts, the heart ejects blood from its two pumping chambers, known as the left ventricle and the right ventricle. Conversely, when the heart relaxes, both ventricles refill with blood. Of note, no matter how forceful the contraction of the heart, the heart is not able to pump all of the blood out of each ventricle. Instead, some blood remains. Hence, the term “ejection fraction” refers to the percentage of blood that is able to be pumped out of a filled ventricle with each heartbeat.[0003]Of the two ventricles...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention has various aspects that are explained in detail in the description below. These aspects are achieved by using specific elements and combinations outlined in the claims. The patent text is meant to be exemplary and not restrictive of the invention.

Problems solved by technology

Of note, no matter how forceful the contraction of the heart, the heart is not able to pump all of the blood out of each ventricle.

Current ejection fraction measurement methods tend to inaccurately assess disease conditions of the heart.

This error can lead to the delayed treatment of patients, and the significant worsening of disease conditions during the delay.

Moreover, this methodology relies on finding the exact end systolic and end diastolic image frames, often nontrivial step that can introduce errors if not done accurately.

As a result, current methods in ejection fraction measurement perform measurements in a way that is neither optimized nor reproducible despite the advances in modern diagnostic technologies.

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